Early Design

Using small details to make the two separate cultures feel distinct while being from the same place was important. Much of early concept art was spend figuring out how the nomads and mountain peoples cultures overlapped, and how they were distinct. Using specific patterns, colors, and accessories to highlight this distinction created a visual language for communicating where a person came from.

Cultural Design

The fictional cultures are meant to give people a place they could picture themselves in the desert, and help them connect better to the environment. While designing the people that live in the desert, I wanted them to feel real and grounded despite the fantastical setting to give people a place where they can picture themselves within the setting.

The people of the desert are made up of two main factions:

The nomads who sail the desert waves in small boats out in the expansive middle, and the mountain people who live at the base and caves of the windy mountain surrounding the desert.

Clothes Design

Each culture's clothes were designed to feel similar, yet distinct at the same time.

The nomads (right) live out in the open desert and are constantly traveling, they have little protection from the wind and elements, and little access to steady resources. Their clothes are looser to allow wind to flow through and cool them down, and are generally made with light yet thick material to protect from the heat. Their clothes tend to be lighter and more faded in color, both due to limited access to dyes and to absorb less heat. Their clothes feature more circular patterns and animal imagery, who they largely rely to survive.

The mountain people (left) live in a more shady and windy region than the nomads, looser clothes are more difficult to manage in the extreme winds of the mountains, so they wear tighter clothes. They still cover their skin to protect from the heat, with more shade to protect them, but also wear more casual clothes that protect less skin. Their clothes tend to be more vibrant, with vibrancy strongly reflecting status, than the nomads due to having more regular access to resources like dyes and use patterns that feature more rigid shapes like squares and triangles, often depicting the mountains.

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Nomad boats are made of whatever resources are available and vary drastically, no two boats are the same.